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Anthropic Launches Drug Discovery Programs for Neglected Diseases

Anthropic announced drug discovery initiatives targeting diseases Big Pharma deems unprofitable, aiming to cut development time by five years, according to Novartis CEO Vas Narasimhan.

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Anthropic has launched its own drug discovery programs to address diseases that traditional pharmaceutical companies consider unprofitable. The company plans to focus on early-stage research for neglected conditions, leveraging its AI tools to improve drug development processes. The initiative aligns with Anthropic's nonprofit mission and aims to enhance its AI models and tools for broader industry use. The announcement was made during an event for its new science AI tool, 'Claude Science,' which showcased how AI can accelerate medical research. A researcher at UCSF used Claude Science to identify a viral contamination in minutes, a task that had previously taken over a year to detect. The company also stated that Claude analyzed 100 rare genetic diseases in under an hour, flagging 32 candidates for further screening. Source: thedecoder

Novartis CEO Vas Narasimhan highlighted that developing a drug candidate from research to approval currently takes about twelve years. He attributed delays to three categories: information latency, operational latency, and biological latency. New AI tools and models could significantly reduce the first two categories, which account for roughly 40% of total development time. Biological latency, involving animal testing, cell models, and human trials, is expected to remain largely unchanged. Narasimhan also suggested that success rates could double from 8% to 16% with better safety predictions and optimized molecular properties, though the impact of improved patient selection remains uncertain. Source: thedecoder

Other AI companies are also expanding into healthcare. Deepmind CEO Demis Hassabis co-founded Isomorphic Labs with Alphabet to apply AI to drug discovery, while Google Deepmind's AlphaFold has been a key example of AI in biology. OpenAI launched ChatGPT Health in early 2026, allowing users to connect medical records and wellness apps. However, experts caution that AI's role in clinical settings for diagnoses and treatment plans remains complex and requires careful oversight. Source: thedecoder

Key points

Anthropic is launching its own drug development programs for neglected diseases that traditional pharma considers unprofitable.
Novartis CEO Vas Narasimhan said new AI models could cut drug development time from twelve years to seven or eight.
Better safety predictions could also double the success rate from 8 to 16 percent.
Anthropic says the move aligns with its nonprofit mission and will help it build better AI models and tools for the broader industry through firsthand experience.
A researcher at UCSF used Claude Science to spot a viral contamination in minutes that his team had missed for an entire year, according to Anthropic.
The company also says Claude analyzed 100 rare genetic diseases in under an hour and flagged 32 candidates for computational screening.

Source: The Decoder Read the original →

WRITTEN BY

Marcus Feld

AI Business & Markets

Marcus reports on AI funding, acquisitions, partnerships, and the business behind the technology.